LiamTheYoshi

Don't worry. Our heroes will solve this.

nintendoscript15

I always thought something was suspicious about him, so that's why I added that twist. And it's good to know that Luigi is being treated better here than before.

StarlitDuck

Well, you know now that he's no good. You're about to see what Iggy was planning in this chapter!

breath20k

Luigi number one!

Nataly Guardado

Luigi: Oh! I forgot about that! Yeah, it was intentional. Glad you got a kick out of that.

Mario: I'm not. It was humiliating!


It's 5:30 AM, about a half hour before sunrise. Mario slowly woke up as some bright light shined in his face. He gets up and yawns.

Mario: Morning already?

Mario opens his eyes but sees it's still dark outside but an orange glow surrounds the village.

Mario: Huh? What is...?

Mario stands up and sees Fire Goop spread out all over the place with a few untouched splotches and multiple Piantas running frantically.

Mario: Is that lava? I better wash it off before it burns me and my friends.

Mario turns to pick FLUDD up, but sees him and his nozzles gone. Luigi and Daisy are still sleeping.

Mario: Oh no... Don't tell me that shadow freak stole FLUDD again… And at the worst possible time too…

Mario quickly taps Luigi and Daisy's shoulders.

Mario: Guys. Wake up. Please.

Luigi and Daisy open their eyes, having barely heard Mario's voice.

Luigi: Bro...? What time is it...?

Daisy: Can I have a couple more minutes, please...?

Mario gets irritated a small bit.

Mario: Now's not the time to nod off again! Look what's happened!

Luigi and Daisy stand up and notice the Fire Goop.

Luigi: What is that?

Mario: You know what it is! It's lava!

Daisy: Don't freak out, Mario. We can clean this up-

Mario: Does it look like we can clean this stuff up?

Luigi: What do you mean?

Daisy also sees that FLUDD is gone.

Daisy: What?! Every time! Why?!

Mario: I don't know, but this is getting annoying! That's the one thing they do all the time! Nothing else!

Luigi: Well, I guess there's Plan B: walk around the lava and don't burn your butts.

Mario thinks it over for a second.


*flashback*

The Bowser's image puzzle started unsolving itself and the one before Mario was the first to move. Mario looked down to see he was above lava.

Mario: Oh mamma mia.

Mario fell in and bounced out of the lava burned.

Mario: HAHAHAHAHAHOOOOTTT!

*end of flashback*


Hearing himself cry with pain caused Mario to flinch, ending his daydream.

Mario: I'm so gonna burn my butt again.

Daisy and Luigi giggle at Mario's comment.

Luigi: *whispering* It's always funny whenever Mario's afraid of something, because you usually don't see that side of him.

Daisy: *whispering* I know, right?

Luigi: Well bro, if you don't act careless, you'll be fine.

Mario: Thanks. I guess stupid decisions are a great way to learn your lesson.

Daisy: Sometimes, but not all the time.

Mario: All right-y. Let's-a go before things get worse.

Mario and friends start by going to the village's east end, making sure to maneuver away from the Fire Goop. They approach a group of scared Piantas.

Pianta: I hope the mayor's okay. What a brave hero!

Mario: Hey! We're running here!

The Piantas quickly move out of the way, but they overhear another Pianta incoming.

Random Pianta: Game over, man! Game over!

The Pianta accidentally runs into Mario's side, rocketing him toward the Fire Goop. He lands on the Fire Goop and bounces out of it toward Luigi and Daisy.

Mario: AAAAAYE! MAAAAMAAAAA! OAHOOO WOAH WOAH!

Luigi and Daisy stop, having heard Mario's cries.

Luigi: What happened?

Luigi and Daisy turn around too late as Mario crashed into them, knocking them to the ground. Mario's still holding his butt, which was smoking a bit.

Mario: Oh mamma mia... I knew this was going to happen... Ow...

Luigi and Daisy get up, but Mario stays on his stomach. Luigi notices Mario's minor burn and smirks.

Luigi: I told you not to play with fire, bro.

Mario: Enough with the jokes! My overalls could've actually caught on fire this time!

Mario stands back up.

Luigi: Sorry. I thought I'd lighten the mood for a minute.

Mario: Not when there's lava all over the place! Sheesh!

Mario, Luigi, and Daisy resume traversing the east end of the village. They cross a small stream and arrive at a giant hole with a panel gate on the bottom.

Daisy: What's down there?

Mario: Maybe this is a shortcut or something.

Luigi: Are you sure about that? It could be a bottomless pit.

Mario: That's true, but let's see for ourselves.

Mario, Luigi, and Daisy drop down the hole toward the gate. They ground pounded through the gate to find themselves hanging over the underside of the village. Said underside had many huge mushrooms growing. The three giant palm trees surrounding the village were also shown to be connected by one stem, revealing that they were actually one gigantic tree, and that Pianta Village was perched right on it.

All: Woah!

Luigi: I guess this is our ticket to getting FLUDD back and cleaning the village.

Daisy: Yeah! Let's do this!

Mario was still looked around, then he tilted his head straight down and immediately regretted doing so. Because directly below him was what seemed to be an endless abyss. He yelped and jerked his head back up the moment he saw it with fear implanted in his face.

Mario: G-Guys? Wh-Whatever you do… don't… look… down…

Luigi: I'm not gonna even THINK about doing that, bro. Experience with platforming has taught me a lot.

Daisy: Yeah, just relax and keep your cool. As long as we don't do anything stupid, we'll be fine.

Mario breathed in and out to calm himself down.

Mario: Okay… okay… okay… Keeping it cool… Let's a go.

The trio started moving forward, moving one hand after the other while still hanging on. Mario was able to successfully keep calm for awhile until he saw a familiar foe. It was a Klamber crawling on the grates.


*flashback*

At the tower, Mario washed off a weird graffiti symbol that was an L turned 45 degrees with eyes above it to look like a smiling face.

Mario: Huh. This is quite a tall tower. How are we gonna get up there?

Aqua: M-M-M-Mario?!

He turned his head over his shoulder to see Aqua with a fearful expression on her face.

Mario: What's wrong?

Aqua: Sp-Sp-Sp-Sp-!

Mario: Are you okay?

FLUDD: I can speak for Aqua in this scenario. There's a klamber crawling on your back.

Mario: A what?!

He looked over his other shoulder to see a huge yellow with black striped spider on his back.

Klamber: Well howdy do!

Mario let out a horrified shriek that blasted all over Ricco Harbor. Disrupting the Piantas working. It could even be heard in nearby areas like Bianco Hills, Gelato Beach, and Pinna Park.

The plumber ran around the tower like crazy with Aqua watching in horror.

Mario: SPIDER! SPIDER! GET IT OFF ME! GET IT OFF ME!

*end of flashback*


Mario shuddered at the thought of what happened back there. Just then, he saw a red Electro-Koopa crawling on the grate as well.


*flashback*

The duo ran after Shadow Mario, but as they were running, a blue shell came out of nowhere and electrocuted them.

Mario and Aqua: PBPBPBPBPBPB!

Mario: What the?!

They turned to see the source of the shell. A koopa walking on all fours with a pink tuft of hair, and a blue shell with veins of electricity surging through it.

FLUDD: That's an Electrokoopa. A subspecies of Koopa Troopas that throw their electric shells like boomerangs at those who pass them.

The electrokoopa throwed its shell at both heroes again, only for them to step back and Mario sprays the koopa with water, throwing it off balance and getting it electrocuted by its own shell.

Aqua: Serves them right!

*end of flashback*


Mario shivered even more.

Mario: (Don't panic Mario. One slip up, and it's Game Over for all three of you. Just keep it cool. Stay away from them and you will be fine.)

Mario did well to hold it in. Luigi and Daisy were also nerve wracked and tried to hold back possibly screaming because of the creepy crawlers on the grates.

Soon, they finally made it back to the surface. They were near the center of the village, and there were patches of land that were not covered in goop.

Mario: Glad that's over. We're almost there!

Jumping across the patches of land, they climb up a wooden bamboo tower where FLUDD and his nozzles were perched.

Mario: Yahoo! FLUDD!

The three strapped their nozzles back on.

Luigi: Oh rocket! I missed you!

Daisy: Yeah! Turbo!

Mario: FLUDD! Are you okay?

FLUDD: I have no recollection of what has occurred, but thank you for retrieving me.

Mario: Hey, no friend gets left behind. Alright, let's save the mayor, then we'll clean this place up.

Mario hopped on top of the Golden Mushroom where the mayor of Pianta Village was covered in lava goop. Mario washed it off of him. He had major burns on his skin, but was happy to have the goop off of him.

Mayor: Whew! You saved me! Thanks a bundle!

Mario: No problem, mayor. You did a great job evacuating everyone! Though, OUCH, those burns must sting!

Mayor: Yeah, it does hurt, but I don't care. I'm just happy that everyone's safe and sound. Take this as my sign of gratitude.

A Shine Sprite appears and Mario grabs it.

SHINE!

Mario: YAHOO!


Special thanks to Nintendoscript15 for help on this chapter.